
Ji 



Te7i Cents. 



RCUIT 



OF 

THE 



ACCOUNT OF A 




PNTINENT: 



Tour Through the West and South. 



BY 



HENRY WARD BEECHER 



[With fortrait.j 



BEING 



His Thanksgiving T>ay T>iscoursc at Phmouth Church, Brooklyn 

O^ov. 2gth. 188:}. describing his Trip through Thirty States 

and Territories, especially the IVheat Regions ami Cattle 

Ranges of the North-lVest : the Ijimher Country of 

l^'ashington and Oregon : California ; Utah 

and the O4ornions : Texas and the South. 



NEW- YORK : 
FORDS. HOWARD. & riULBERT. 



EUROPE/ 

THOMAS COOK & SON, 

261 Broadway, New York, Ludgate Circus, London. 

DRir.IXATORS AND FOUNDERS OF TME 

TOURIST AND EXCURSION SYSTEM, 

(ESTABLISHED IN 1S41,) 
J'>eg to call the attention of persons contemplating ' 

A TRIP ABROAD 



To their nnequaled facilities for renderinjj such trips 

EASY. PRACTICABLE. & ECONOMICAL. ^ 



Cook's Rxciirsion Parties, 

In ciiarg-e of a competent conductor, sail from New York in April, May, June, ancf July, 1SS4. 

TourivSt Tickets for Individual Travelers 

To all parts of the g-lnbe, issued in ni;;ny cases at 

REDUCED RATES. 

TASSAGE TICKETS BY ALL LINES OK ATLAN'IR: STEAMERS. 

EGYPT AND PALESTINE. 

Special facilities of the most complete character lor visiting- these countries. 'J'hos. 
CiH)K.X;So\ have their own salarieil employees at their own ol'iices at -Vlexan^lria, Cairo, 
Jaffa, Jerusalem, ISeyrout, Cxinstantinople, -Vthens, and other chief points, where travelers, 
under their arrani,rements, can receive every information .md assistance free ot char<;e. 

COOK'S STEAMERS ON THE NILE, 

Are llu^ onlv steamboats on the Riv<'r Nile, and no other person or a-^-ency is authorized to 

hook passengers for tluni. 

Thos. Cook .V .Son have also the FINEST FLEET OF DA M.MU'.AI IS on the river, 
for those desiring to make a prolonged stay on the Nile. 

COOK'S EXCURSIONIST, with Maps au<l full particul.ars, h; mail, 10 cents. ' 
Address, 

THOS. COOK & SON, 261 Broadway, New York 



PLYMOUTH PULPIT, 

THE WKEKl.Y I'AMl'HI.Kr KDITION OV 

HENRY WARD BEECHER'S 

Sennoiis in. Plymouth Church. 

Tbe only issue authorized by Mr. Beechek ; printed from 
I:i,linwood"s Stenograi'hic Reports. No. i of this 
New Series was published Oct. ii, 1882 ; they appear every 
Wednesday, ordinarily giving Morning Sermon, Prayers, 
and indication of Scriptural Lesson and Hymns sung 

" No living American preacher has so many hearers, readers, 
:uul friends who seek his cheering and comforting words, or so 
strongly influences for the good of his fellow-men. It is a vast 
audience that no buildin? erected by man could contain. All over 
the country, in cities and in the distant forests, in the palace :ind in 
the cabin, the sad, the suffering, and the despairful turn to him for 
hope and rest. He has their hearts, and can supply their needs. 
It IS impossible to estimate his influence in the formation of religious 
character in the United SlsXesJ"— Boston Daily Globe. 

" .\ more vital, inspiriting, attractive form of religious instru<;- 
tion it would not be easy to find, even in these days when 'the 
pulpit' is awaking to the fact that ' the pew ' has become a reading, 
thinking, independent personality."— />07^i^r Morning Star, N. H. 

Price : Single Copies, 7 cents, of any Bookseller 
or Newsdealer. Yearly Si-nscKii'TinN, $2 ; to Clergy- 
men or Theological Stuijents, ^1.70. Subscriptions 
may begin with any Number, but it is better to begin with 
the Volume. One Volume every stx mouths, — beginning 
in October and April. 

Common-Sense Binder, Cloth, 50 cents; Half Rus- 
sia, 90 cents. • This preserves the weekly pamphlets in 
agreeable book-form— clean, untorn ; and at the end of six 
months you have a handsome volume of about 000 pages. 

XW" Sample Copien mailed free on npplirotion. .^gr! 

FORDS, HOWARD, & HULBERT, 

27 PARK PLACE, N E\A/ YOFiK. 



1733 KSTABLISHED I ]Sr P^RIS ir23 



REVILLON FRERES, 

WHOLESALE FURRIERS, 

No. 731 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 




Trad Mark 



Maiiiifaclflrers of Novelties for Laclies antl Gentleiiien's Fur LlneJ Coats 

IMPORTERS OF 

SE>L SKINS k^ m&W^ MATEpLS. 

Represented by A. P. ROCKWELL. 

IMPOETEE ANI MANHFAOTUEEE OF LADIES' AND GENT'S FUE GLOMES 





^yz^ 




^i^^-^/e^ 



A Circuit 

of the 

Contiitent: 

ACCOUNl' Ol' A 

Tour TkroiLgli tlic IVcsl and South, 



HENRY WARD BEECHER. 

[With Portrait.] 



His Thanksgiving Day Discourse at Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, 
Nov. 2gth, 1883, describing his Trip through Thirty States 
and Territories, especially the Wheat Regiofts and Cattle 
ll. Ranges of the North- West; the Lumber Country of 

'„^^. .'• Washington and Oregon; California; Utah 
Q ? i) " and the Alormons; Texas and the South. 






NEW YORK: 

FORDS, HOWARD, & HULBERT, 

18S4. 



Copyright, 1884, by 
FoRUS, Howard, & Hulbert. 



vi.'-" 



A Circuit of the Continent; 



TOUR THROUGH THE WEST AND SOUTH. 



I propose to give a brief account of the circle through 
which I swung during my vacation of last summer. That 
circle included very nearly the whole of the continent 
which is occupied by these United States. Of course my 
statement must be very rapid and my view very superficial. 
And before I begin I want to say one thing which I trust 
the reporters will not omit from their reports, and that is 
that I beseech people not to write letters on this subject, 
for I cannot answer them ; I cannot attend to the inquiries 
which already flood me regarding the country, its soil, cli- 
mate, productions, &c., — whether people should emigrate to 
the West or the South, or to either. Even now the stream 
of inquiring letters is like the Euphrates. Write to the 
headquarters of the principal railways, and explanator}' 
documents will be sent you. I will only say, in a general 
way, that along the lirte we are to travel together this morn- 
ing all men who know how to labor, and are willing to live 
plainly and work hard and steadily, are wanted ; all men 
that don't know how to work would better stay at home. 
Clerks, bookkeepers, young lawyers, young doctors — a few 
may go, but the fewer the better. Farmers, — robust, 

Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 29, 1S83. In Plymouth Church, Brooklyn. 



4 CIRCUIT OF THE CONTINENT. 

much-enduring men, — 'that understand how to till the soil 
and harvest the crop, are more needed ; mechanics are 
needed also, and they will find there a welcome and a 
fortune. 

Family reasons inspired my visit; but, since I purposed 
to visit the Pacific Coast, I thought it w^ould be a good time 
to fulfill a desire of my life to see my own country. It is 
not much for a Scotchman to see his native land ; he can 
look it over any day : nor for an Englishman, or a Welsh- 
man, or an Irishman would it be a great job to see his own 
country; but for an American to see the United States of 
America is an enterprise of magnitude. If I were to have 
my own way I would insist that no man should be sent to 
Congress who had not spent at least a month in each 
State of this Union. I desired particularly to go South. 
That desire has sprung up (as you may guess !) within the 
last twenty years. All my life long I have had a fervent 
enthusiasm of patriotism, and it was a grief and shame to 
me that State after State there was which I might not 
visit because I loved liberty; but I meant before I died to 
see the promised land. In my youth there were not over 
four millions of people in this country; now there are 
over sixty millions. Ever since I can remember, the West 
has been fleeing away from us. It used to be at our doors; 
but, retreating year by year, the Northwest has refused to 
be caught. I remember when [in 1816 the State of Ohio x^r,, 
was considered the West and the Northwest. Up to 1840 
we used to think of Chicago as the Northwest. In i860 it 
was at St. Paul ; and in 1880 Oregon and Washington Ter- 
ritory. But now, at Alaska the Northwest must take up 
its final abode. ^ 

My route took me through thirty States and Territories; 
in all, between eighteen and nineteen thousand miles, 
wholly by rail, except a few odious days between Port- 
land and San Francisco. As a testimony to the organi- 
zation and condition of the railway service in this country, 
I can say that I made nearly the circuit of the United 
States on appointments running through three months to 
deliver seventy-five lectures ; and I never missed a lecture 



AyV^ 



THE WHEAT REG TO MS. % 

in any single instance, but delivered thtMii at llie appointed 
lime, every one of them, except at Mobile, and that was 
omitted for prudential reasons of my own and not from any 
failure of the railroad. During the two hundred and twenty 
days there was only one day of rain, and, except this, there 
was not a single day when the sun was obscured, up to the 
day of completing my work ; but on the da}' following it 
was cloudy and began to rain. 

The United States may be divided east and west into 
three belts of States : the N,:)rthern, Middle, &c., and South- 
ern. My route left out the Middle group, and carried me 
along the line of the Northern and Southern States, with 
the exception of several Mineral States like California, 
Nevada, Utah, and Colorado — belonging to the Middle 
belt. 

Leaving home July 9, I followed the sickle. The har- 
vest of wheat was closed in Ohio and was beginnin_^ in 
Wisconsin. Our line of travel carried us through the great 
wheat belt of this country, and it is one of the marvels of 
the world. Almost every State in the Union can raise wheat, 
but very few of them may be said to be dedicated to it, in 
the estimation of the world. Almost every Southern State 
can raise cotton, yet there is the great cotton belt, and so 
there is a great wheat belt, as is well known. These States 
on our side and on the Dominion side are larger than 
Great Britain, France, Norway, Sweden and Holland 
united, comprising over a million square miles in the tem- 
perate zone, with a favorable climate and capable of emi- 
nent civilization. By the census of 1880 the popidation was 
about 4,000,000. Every ten years we may expect an in- 
crease of 2,000,000. 

Over this whole territory the census tells us that about 
three-quarters of the people speak the English language. 

Turn from those marvelous cities of the Northwest, St. 
Paul and Minneapolis — which ought to be called the Jeru- 
salem of the wheat region, Minneapolis alone manufactur- 
ing 30,000 barrels of wheat a day, and both being of great 
beauty, immense enterprise, thrift, and public spirit ; but 
turn from these — up the Red River to Winnipeg in Mani- 



6 ■ CIRCUIT OF THE COK'TmENT. 

toba: ten years a<;o there was no such city except in naniCj 
and now its business facilities are great, and its stores will 
vie with any in New York. Many of their residences are as 
beautiful as any on the North River; they can boast mansions 
costing from |;2oo,ooo to ^300,000. To see all this was a 
surprise to me, and I learned also that along the Red 
River for 800 or 1,200 miles of navigable stream, west of 
Lake Winnipeg, and on each side of the Saskatchewan 
River, there was territory adapted to the wheat culture 
and stocked with coal, minerals and timber; a country 
which now lies largely a wilderness. But the population 
is pouring into it, and a wonderful population — English 
mostly. English people in its capital city predominate, 
the Germans next, Scandinavians next, and now and then 
an Irishman. 

The climate of the States along the Northern Pacific 
Railroad, and in the Dominion would seem to shut out the 
hope of incursion. It is considered a temperate winter 
day in Winnipeg when the thermometer is only ten de- 
grees below zero, and from that it sinks thirty, forty, even 
sixty degrees, and as Jack Downing once said, it would 
have been much colder if the thermometer had been longer. 

It would seem as though this was an estoppel, but it is 
not. Old residents assured me that the cold was more 
tolerable to them at forty degrees below zero than in New 
England, where the winters are full of moisture, for the 
effect of the cold is very much reduced on the human sys- 
tem by the dryness of the atmosphere. So soon as spring 
opens and an inch or two of soil is formed, the wheat is sown, 
and the wheat roots form while the ground underneath is 
thawing, and thus the soil becomes a reservoir of moisture 
from which the roots may draw their supplies. All through 
this region the average yield is sixteen to twenty-five 
bushels to the acre. In the Red River Valley, it is from 
twenty to thirty bushels ; on the upland West, from thirty- 
five to forty bushels ; on the upland of Northern Dakota, 
which must be said to be the crowning glory of the wheat 
farm, from forty to forty-five bushels. 

Leaving the more thickly populated parts of the State, 



NOR THERN PA CIFIC RA ILROA D. 7 

the evolution of civilization was to be seen as we traveled. 
Our attention was called to the fact that towns or cities 
were only five years old, and yet there were the court- 
house, the school-house, the church of brick; and a little 
further on there were towns three years old, with a great 
deal of canvas, some lumber and a little brick; and still 
later the year-old towns came into view; and we came to 
some baby towns just born, all canvas. A wonderful 
region, where a town is established in one year, fully built 
up in five years, and in ten years it has a railway with the 
next town! 

We owe this vast territory to the construction of the 
Northern Pacific Railroad. I have felt a deep interest in 
this road since the day when Jay Cooke, taking tea with 
me, laid open his far-reaching plans. That road is a 
monument to his genius, and will be the glory of his chil- 
dren. It is as fine a road as ever I traveled on. It is 
solidly built, its engines and cars all excellent, its stations 
and restaurants, parlor and sleeping cars and dining-room 
cars are as good as any in the whole land. 

All the vast States and Territories along its route have 
been brought within easy access by its opening. Dakota, 
Montana, all the mountain regions north, have been 
brought into value by this great road. In one year every 
emigrant has wheat to sell, and this furnishes freight 
to the road. Railroads, I think, have to pass through all 
the diseases, the same as children — -whooping-cough, 
measles, etc. I don't know whether this road will ever 
pay any dividends, but I do know that it is a magnificent 
road, and that it has paid the United States for all that it 
has received. It is one of the noblest of the grand iron 
belts that hold together the East and the West. I was 
much interested in its inception when it was thought to be 
impracticable, or utterly unprofitable. It was to pass, as 
men thought, through a howling wilderness of wintry land, 
without inhabitants or the probability of emigration and 
settlement. But the Road has revealed the noblest of ag- 
ricultural regions ; has turned a land of desolation into a 
garden ; has carried out along every mile the population 



8 CIRCUIT OF rilE CONTINEXT. 

needed to manage the soil ; has seen villages, towns and 
cities spring into existence with surprising rapidity; and 
developed a business which tasks its energy to manage. 
It has opened to the East the richest mines, the great cattle 
ranges of the North, and the lumber districts of the Pacific 
Coast. Along the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad is 
to be developed ere long the densest and best conditioned 
population on this continent. Had the Road received 
from Government thrice the land which it has received, it 
would have abundantly earned the bounty. It has in ef- 
fect created the territory through which it runs. Not for 
a hundred years could this fertile and wholesome country 
have been settled and developed but for this great Railway 
of the North. It has planted towns, schools, churches, 
governments, and civilization, along two thousand miles of 
territory, which, but for it, would to-day be known only to 
the trapper, the hunter and the miner. 

In Dakota the herding of cattle is a great industry, and 
you ought to see a herd of 10,000. A man said to me that 
he had a little place further up. '' How large is the place ?" 
asked I. He said it was about eighty thousand acres, and 
tlfet he had a few cattle on it. "How many?" asked I. "About 
twenty-five thousand," said he. And I found the cattlemen 
of Texas still steadily driving their herds north, because, 
as they expressed it, the feed there "slicked them up bet- 
ter" than the feed in the South. Although the min- 
eral wealth of Montana is very great, it is a very question- 
able advantage. States that have nothing but mines are 
doubtfully blessed. Men go there to make fortunes and 
then run away. Mining is an industry, yet it engenders the 
spirit of gambling, which soon springs up and destroys the 
settled habits of industry in every department of the State. 
I should, therefore, not count the precious metals a great 
blessing to any individual State, though they may be to the 
commerce of the United States and of the world. 

Of all that I saw in the Northwest, however, commend me 
to Oregon and Washington Territory. These are my special 
pets, and there are no States which have such a future as 
these. They have a charming summer, and an Italian win- 



rilE PACIFIC COAST. 4 

ter, for the great Japan gulf-stream sets up against their 
coasts. Their winters are almost snovvless, and their sum- 
mers made fertile by abundant rain coming in from the 
ocean. The States are full of mountains covered with the 
rarest of lumber. They have all forms of minerals, coal in 
abundance, and admirable lands — in some sections finer 
wheat-land than in Dakota. The Governor pointed out to 
me in Oregon City, which lies in the valley of the Willa- 
mette River, a farm that had been under culture for fifty 
years. That farm was producing fifty bushels of wheat to 
the acre, and it had been run for wheat for fifty years; and 
I heard the same extravagant stories from the wheat-lands 
all along the Columbia River. These States have a tran- 
scendent climate and every element of commerce. Puget 
Sound is an inland harbor in which. I might almost say, 
all the ships of the globe might cast anchor, and not one 
of them be in sight of another. Ships of almost every 
nation on the globe were in Puget Sound collecting their 
lumber. The population, being largely made up of ex sol- 
diers, is active and enterprising, and towns are springing up 
on every side. With such a climate and such a soil, these 
States far to the north are going to be, I think, the greatest 
States in this Union. I am not much in love with the 
equator. My love grows stronger toward the Arctic cir- 
cle. I don't believe that the civilization of the world will 
take place where men do not have to dig cellars and are not 
shut up for some winter months of the year in their homes. 
In the North, where men are shut up six months of the year 
by reason of the cold, the family becomes the chief institution 
of the State, and is its salvation. In such States men grow 
rich in the substantial benefits of civilization. 

Going from this favored region, after some days of an- 
nihilation on the sea, I landed in California. That State 
needs no commendation ; it is fortunate that its mines are 
giving out, and its population are going to agriculture. 
Large farms are breaking up. Men who try to carry on 
business with 50,000 or 60,000 acres are failing. Small 
farms, with many farmers, make a State rich both in men 
and harvests. The labor question is coming up to vex ihem 



lo CIRCUIT OF THE CONTINENT. 

in California. They wouldn't have the Chinamen, and now 
they want them. In a few years they will be sick of the 
prices they will have to pay for other labor. It has been 
stated in the newspapers that I broached the Chinese ques- 
tion in my lectures in California, and that after this I had 
no audiences. It is all true except that I never broached that 
question, and that my audiences did not fall off ; both state- 
ments were untrue. 

I went from California to Utah, but will reserve that to 
the last. 

In Texas I told the people that their State was large 
enough for three, and they held up their hands in horror, 
and said, " No ; only one State!" I said, "Gentlemen, 
there are at least six citizens who will want to be Senators 
of the United States, and they will be more powerful than 
your desire to keep the State in its present form." 

Texas is the marvel of the world in its magnitude and 
its resources. No man can form any idea of land until he 
has traveled in Texas. The forests arc few ; and that is 
the only mistake in its make-up. An incredible population 
is pouring into Texas, and it is destined to be an empire. 

In Texas,, as in every one of the Southern States where I 
lectured, I was received with more than hospitality — with 
cordiality, and the managers of the lecture tour had no 
reason to complain. I do not desire to go among a people 
more friendly. I spoke in every one of the Southern States 
through which I passed, and I had not the most remote 
conception that I should be so well received. I lectured 
in New Orleans, Montgomery, Atlanta, Macon, Augusta, 
Savannah and Charleston. There are a great many foolish 
people in the South, as there are in the North, with old 
prejudices. But I was surprised and delighted to see how 
all the more intelligent and active of the Southern people 
had survived an evil sectional feeling. The war and all its 
issues are substantially forgotten, and men are busy in 
building up again what had been wasted and destroyed. On 
the whole the material wealth in the South has been recu- 
perated, and is on a thousand times more secure a basis 
than it was before the war, I appealed to audience after 



THE SOUTH— THE NEGRO. ii 

audience, asking — if they could, would they bring back 
slavery ? and there was not a single instance where they did 
not say they had been delivered from a great curse, and that 
they would not bring it back again. I had no trouble in 
speaking there, and when I told them that I hoped Gen. But- 
ler would be the Democratic nominee for President, and I 
wanted to go down and see them "eat crow " by voting for 
him, they received it with good nature, as you do. More 
than that: young men in the South who used to have their 
living as pleasure-seekers, are now workers. Manufactures 
are springing up so generally that the attention of political 
economists has been directed to it, and they are going to 
show that unprotected industry in this land can take care of 
itself. I also found in the South great interest in schools. 
They don't fare as well in this respect as we do in the 
North ; but the wish of the people is for schools, and they 
are pushing them out in every direction. The prospects of 
the South are admirable in that direction. I can say the 
same as regards religion ; the number of churches show 
that society is being built up on morality and intelligence. 

New Orleans and Quebec were the two most striking 
cities that I saw in the land ; and the former is regaining 
its ascendancy as a commercial center. Other Southern 
cities are fast growing up. The poisonous sliver has been 
drawn out, and the Nation is united, and one ! 

As regards the negro, I received testimony most wel- 
come. The general impression I received was, that the 
colored people are increasing. The mixture of races has 
declined through the South; the white folk are white, and 
the black folk are black. We are not going to have as 
much mixture as we used to. Education is going on, and 
the Southern people of good sense and feeling are desir- 
ous of having the black people educated. In the cities they 
are being admirably educated, and they are everywhere 
eager to learn. The American Missionary Association is 
doing an especially good work. When the colored people 
own land they prosper. The white people object to selling 
it to them, and for the same reason that people in New 
York and Krooklyn do not like to sell land to be occupied 



12 CIRCUIT OF THE CONTINENT. 

by an objectionable class. The younger negroes are rather 
disposed to be indolent, and the most prosperous are the 
former slaves. I was asked as to my views about social 
equality. I replied that the theory of religion was that all 
men were equal, but that practice indicated that social 
equality should not be forced, but that men should grow in- 
to relationships that are necessary. Schools should not be 
forced to have both black and white children. Time will 
settle the matter, and the future will take care of itself. 
The civil rights decision was much discussed, but I told 
those who asked me, that it would work good to the 
colored people. Their rights would be gradually allowed, not 
as a matter of law but of courtesy. The road of the colored 
people up to equality is by intelligence, virtue and religion, 
and they are traveling on that road. I believe that they 
have achieved liberty, responsibility; and as much social 
equality as is good for them till they have earned more. 

Now, about Utah and the Mormons. My lecture was 
advertised to take place in the theatre, which belongs to 
the church in Salt Lake City, and President Taylor — the 
successor of Brigham Young — the twelve apostles, and as 
many of their wives as could be spared, attended it. Presi- 
dent Taylor called the next day in a carriage, with great 
courtesy, and took me for an inspection of the city, and a 
very fine city it is, with many admirable residences. I 
learned some things from him, and had also talks with 
many intelligent Gentiles, and learned some things from 
them. I had likewise the privilege of meeting some ex- 
Mormons, men of culture and brains, of deep religious 
susceptibility, and I learned from them why they went in- 
to and came out of Mormonism. I have no time to go 
largely into the matter as a psychological mystery. But 
Mormonism is not altogether strange. 1 regard it as hav- 
ing one odious feature — well, two, and may be three, but 
it has a good, healthy body, on which these cancers are 
feeding. No matter what the past has been ; no matter 
who or what started it ; no matter on what false ground 
the institution rests, there it stand.s, the phenomenon of the 
nineteenth century. Its ignoble origin must not lead you 



UTAH AND THE MO KM OX S. 13 

to despise it. It is one of the great forces of modern times. 
What is its power? Wherein does it consist ? What is it 
doing ? It is a spiritual despotism ; absolute. It is found- 
ed on fanaticism and ignorance ; absolute. It is founded 
on a literal acceptance of the Old Testament, and I don't 
see how a man that believes in verbal inspiration can throw 
stones at the Mormons. Are they polygamists ? So were 
the Old Testament saints. In the Bible, men talked face to 
face with God ; so the Mormons believe they have revela- 
tions now. Mormonism, in its religious philosophy, is sim- 
ply the attempt to reintroduce into modern economy the in- 
stitutions and beliefs of the Mosaic period of the Old Testa- 
ment. This people believe in the Bible, more than many a 
church member does here. In an argument with them, how a 
regular old-fashioned orthodox believer in the letter of the 
Old Testament as it stands could get along with their logic I 
don't understand. 

Although they have no gorgeous ecclesiastical cere- 
monials, although they have very few things that appeal 
to the imagination, they are one of the strongest and most 
cohesive bodies of men that exist. In the first place, they 
bring their population from the more ignorant population 
on the globe, and largely from the Southern States. They 
come there very ignorant and very poor, and are at once 
distributed, and every one given a portion of ground. All 
the agriculture there is based on artificial irrigation of the 
soil The church owns all the machinery and channels 
through which the water has to come. If a man does not 
obey the authorities, they simply cut off his water, and the . 
sinful or objectionable Mormon either starves or repents. J 
No court, no trial, no anything — simply Shut the gates ! I 
think there never was so easy a remedy against backsliding. 
The Bishops look after the temporal welfare of the people, 
and one will be surprised to see the fruitful farms that 
have been established by this ignorant people. Their pros- 
perous fields in the sandy desert — the grain, the vines and 
the fruit trees, the little farm-houses redeemed or erected 
by the industry of these poor ignorant Mormons — he will 
be amazed at indeed. And it is not without some show of 



14 CIRCUIT OF THE CONTINENT. 

reason that they point to these and say that Providence 
smiles upon them. 

There can be no question that the great majority of 
Mormons who go to Utah rise at once, and by their indus- 
try and frugality soon become better men and acquire 
property, gaining a substantial conservative interest in the 
good order of the community. What if the Church tithes 
every man's products and makes itself a millionaire Church, 
with funds enough to carry on its missionary work around 
the globe ? The people are so much better off, the climate 
is so delightful, the earth is so bounteous, that they pay 
their tithes willingly, and superabundance still crowns the 
year as the fruit of their industry. 

As a general thing the Mormon people believe in Mor- 
monism. If our people believed as earnestly in Christian- 
ity as these people do in Mormonism, we should see the 
world revolutionized. We are to take into account also 
the strong use made by their teachers of the promise of 
neaven or the threat of hell. Every one of them believes 
in hell, and in heaven, and the hope or the fear in regard 
to the future is — certainly so far as the women arc con- 
cerned — the key-note of polygamy. It is not in the nature 
of woman to desire to have a multitude of companion- 
wives, but if the safety of her soul demands it, as the Mor- 
mon doctrine teaches — for the sake of the salvation of her 
soul, she may agree to curtail her marital rights on this 
earth, and it is the promise of life everlasting, on what they 
consider the direct testimony of God, which leads them to 
submit to this unwarrantable condition. Not half of the 
Mormons are polygamists, but all believe in polygamy as a 
divine institution. 

Aside from the spiritual question, my impression is that 
no more orderly city exists on the continent than Salt Lake 
City. I suggested to an anti- Mormon that the way to reach 
them was to have Christian families of refinement and 
spiritual force introduced among them, whose example 
would be a perpetual testimony to the Mormons. I received 
a buffet, however, when I was told that the average Gen- 
tile of Utah is not so high as the average Mormon.-, In in- 



MORMON INCREASE— THE REMEDY. ig 

dustry, frugality, truth-telling, temperance, and chastity 
(within the large limits of their religion), the balance is in . 
favor of the Mormons. When you consider what vast num- 
bers of immigrants, and especially miners, drift down into 
such camps, you can very well understand that the probable 
Gentile population will furnish few examples likely to win 
Mormons from their superstitious beliefs and evil courses. 

This people are increasing and buying all the land they 
can cultivate by irrigation in all the adjoining States and 
Territories, and are constantly spreading. At the Mormon 
Conference held in Salt Lake in October of this year, the 
Apostle Cannon presented statistics of the Church, show- 
ing the membership in Utah to be 127,290 ; the number of 
families, 23,000; new members admitted, 23,000; the Church 
organization — mark this, how thoroughly they are gov- 
erned, and how many men there are that have an interest 
in the maintenance of this system — the Church organiza- 
tion embraces, first, the president ; then twelve apostles ; 
then 58 patriarchs, 3,885 sentinels, 3,153 high priests, ii,oco 
choirs, 1,500 bishops and 4,000 deacons. Pretty well of- 
ficered ! In Arizona there is a membership of 2,262 ; in 
Idaho twice as many. Eighty-one missionaries were ap- 
pointed last year to go on missions to Europe and the 
United States. Eighteen of this number were set apart for 
missions to the Southern States, where the Church is meet- 
ing considerable success in increasing its membership. 
The Southern converts are being colonized mainly in Col- 
orado. That is the condition of things as near as I could 
judge. 

Now the question comes, Is there any remedy? I think 
there are two. One is to let them alone, and the other is 
to put them to the sword. Let us look at both of them. 

And first, the Edmunds bill has been not only no disad- 
vantage to the Mormon Church, but a great advantage. It 
has driven in all the wanderers and consolidated them. It 
has made them feel again and again that they were a per- 
secuted people. They have felt this always. They have 
said, " We are kept outside of the United States. The laws 
that are made for us are entirelv different from the laws 



l6 CIRCUIT OF THE CONrTlM^NT. 

of any other State or Territory in the Union." They harp 
upon this: and a superstition run to fanaticism and intensi- 
fied by the sense of persecution is a power which is not 
easy to deal with. Now, a commission appointed with ab- 
solute authority, despotic — a drumhead commission — with 
the army at its back, settled down in Utah with the com- 
mand of the people of this continent to "eradicate poly- 
gamy at all hazards " — I don't know but that could succeed. 
This I know: such a measure as that is foreign to our his- 
tory, unknown to our laws, not according to the genius of 
our institutions nor of our people. I think the poorest 
people on the face of the earth to play at despotism is the 
great, intelligent American people; and to send forth a 
body of men armed to the teeth to exterminate polygamy, 
not bound by the laws of evidence, forming their own 
judgment as to guilt or innocence, laying the hand of pow- 
er on whomsoever they think it necessary to lay it on, that 
would be an extraordinary state of things. 

And yet I don't think any legislation short of that is go- 
ing to accomplish anything. Of course, all the wisdom of 
legislation is not in my poor head — thank Heaven! But I 
think one reason for the torpidity of our Government is that 
it doesn't know what to do. You don't know what to do. 
You hate Mormons? I don't. I hate the institution. I love 
the Mormons. I should be very glad to see this vast body 
of men brought into harmony with all our institutions and 
methods. But if you ask me by what legislation it is to 
be done, I don't know. I should be glad to hear from any 
who does know. The wise men of Washington are not 
wise on this subject. That I have from headquarters. 

Well, what is the other remedy ? Let them alone; receive 
them into the Union; withdraw your soldiers; let them 
have their Church; let them be open to all the influences 
that are affecting the public sentiment of every other State 
in the Union; send there your intelligent teachers; establish 
schools among them as you do among the heathen; send in 
there those who can preach a better gospel. Do you be- 
lieve that, while we may con^rt the people of Asia and 
Africa, there is nothing in the Gospel that can touch Utah? 



■IHE rVTVRE. 17 

Take persecution off from them. Go back absolutely to 
moral influences. Take away from them the feeling that 
they are singled out from all the people on this continent, 
and held in, and denied their civil rights, and are abused 
on account of their religion. Take away all that, substi- 
tute kindness and patient teaching and preaching of the 
Gospel with more piety and fervor than it is now preached 
to them, and wait for time. It is not likely that they 
are going to take possession of all the United States. 
If there be any such thing as the superiority of intelli- 
gence over ignorance ; if there be any such thing as the 
triumph of divtne power or pure faith over an abject 
superstitious faith ; if there be any truth in the claim that 
liberty emancipates men ; if it be true that the Gospel of 
Jesus Christ is adequate to all the emergencies of deprav- 
ity and wickedness, in high places and in low, it would seem 
to me that the way of the future must be the way of re- 
ligion in all the days that have gone by. It is an odious 
thing to have such a stink pot right in the midst of the 
nation ; we loathe the mere thought of polygamy ; and 
yet I don't see any other way to eradicate it. So far as I 
can see at present there are but two courses : one is by the 
sword of the Government, and the other is by the word of 
the Lord; and of the two it seems to me that I would a lit- 
tle rather trust to the sword of the Lord than to the sword 
of Gideon. 

With the exception of this blot, the signs of the times in 
the land are auspicious. The North and South have no 
division. Everywhere there is an enthusiasm for schools, 
and the Cliurcli is not behindhand. Wherever there is a 
school, the Church follows as a matter of course. Even 
Utah I believe is only a thorn in the flesh, and will be a 
benefit in the long run. Throughout all the land, hands 
and hearts can be lifted up for the sake of civilization and 
of religion, and all can unite in saying : " God bless the 
United States !" 



DO NOT DELAY! 



APPLY TO-DAY! 



Jrisizre A^gcuirist Occidents 



In "THE OL,I> RELIABLE" 

UNITED STATES 
fflUTDAL ACCIDENT ASSOCIATION, 



The Oldest, Largest. 

Strongest and Surest 

Mutual Accident 

Association 
In the World. 



320 &. 322 BROADWAY, 

NEW YORK. 



Insures Against 

Accidents at Half the 

Rates of 

Stock Companies. 



HOW TO BECOME A MEMBER. 

Write for Circular and Application Blank, and when received, fill out your application, 

enclose $5.00, and forward it to the Secretary at New York; on receipt of 

which, Policy will be promptly mailed to you. 

$5,000 Accident Insurance with $25 Weekly Indemnity, for $5 Membership Fee, paid but 
once. Annual Cost, about $12 for Assessments and $1 Dues. 

EXAIflPLES OF DEATH LOSSES PAI» BY THE 

UNITED States Mutu/l AcciDEf(T Associ/tioi(of New Yoijk. 

More than 2,500 Claims have been Paid. No Claims Unpaid. 



Evans G. Wiley, Urbana, O 

Reamer F. Copeland, Waukesha, Wis 
H. I. Fellows, M. D., Albany, N. Y 
Jos. M. Goodhue, St. Louis, Mo. . 
James H. Sledge, La Grange, Ga. . 
Chas. S. Boyd, Philadelphia, Pa . . 
B. FI. Badger, P^onddu Lac, Wis. . 
Chas. J. King, Littleton, N. 11... 
David C. Ballantine, McCook, Neb 



55,000 
5,000 
5,000 
5,000 
5,000 
5,000 
5,000 
5,000 
5,000 



P. J. O'Brien, New York, N. V 5,000 

RalzaS. Lee, Minneapolis, Minn. . . . 5,000 

Tudson J. Hough, Maroa, 111 5,000 

John W. Higgins, Detroit, Mich 5,000 

David Lewis, Chicago, 111 5, 000 

Thomas Richardson, Lebanon, 111.. 5,000 

Edwin S. Raynor, Hempstead, L. I. 5,000 

Almon B. Bostwick, Toledo, O S.Of'O 

Ed. A. Ross, Albany, N. Y 5,000 



More than $250,000.00 have been disbursed for losses by the United States Mutual Acci- 
dent Association, 320 and 322 Broadway, New York. Rates of insurance one-half those of 
stock companies. 



CIIAULKS B. PEET, President. 
(Of Rogers^ Feet & Co. ) 



JAUES K. I'lTCHEU, Secretary. 



CROUCH & FITZGERALD^ 



N EW YORK, 

MAKE THE MOST RELIABLE 

TRUNKS, BAGS & VALISES, 



KUK 

American 

antl 

European 

Travel. 




FOR COMMERCIAL TRAVELERS USE. 
THE IMPROVED PATENT RAWHIDE TRUNK. 




Also Black Diamond and Light Weight Sample Trunks 

In all sizes, for every line of business. 

Address, CROUCH & FITZGERALD, 



1 CORTLANDT STREET, 

corner of Broadway. 



550 RROADWAY, 

Helow Prince. 



72.-J SIXTH AVENUE, 

Below 42d Street. 



DO YOU KNOW 



That you can get a year's subscription to the Century Magazine for $1.98; to Harper'a 
Monthly for $1.5" ; to Ilarper''s Bazar and Harper's Weekly for $1.98 each ; to the Atlantic for $1.9S; 
to St, Nicholas for $1.27; to The Youth's Companion for 47 cents; to the Neiu York Weekly 
Tribune for seven cents— and to any other periodical in the world at equally astonishing discounts 
from the regular prices ? These rates are actually given to all subscribers to the above, if taken 
at tliesanie time with THE COJiTI>'E>'T [Judsje Tourgee's Weekly Jlagaziue], The following list 
gives a few of the combinations we make : 



COMBINATION SUBSCRIPTION RATES. 



The Continent 

The Continent, $4, 
Tlie Continent, $4. 
Tlie Continent, $4 
The Continent, $4, 
Tlie f')iitinent, $». 
Tlip Continent, $4, 
The Continent. $4, 
The Continent, $4, 
riie Continent, S), 
The Continent, $ '. 
The Continent, $4 
The Continent, St. 
The Continent, .S4. 
The Continent, .54, 
The Continent, .S4. 
The Continent. $4, 
The Continent, ,$4, 
The Continent. $4. 
The Continent, $4, 
The Continent, ,$4. 
The Continent, ,'!;4, 
The Continent, $4, 



(»4) 

and 

and 

, antl 

, and 

, and 

, and 

and 

and 

and 

and 



and 
nnd 
and 
and 
ami 
and 
and 
and 
and 
and 
and 



and Plymouth Pulpit {%'£) 

The Century, $4, . 
Harper's Magazine, $4, 
Ilai'iier's Bazar, $4, 
Hari)ers Weekly, $4, 
Atlantic Monthly, $4, . 
Army and Navy Journal, $6, . 
North American Review, $5, 
Forest and Stream, $4, 
The Nation, S3, . 

The Critic. »8 

Lipjiincott's JIagaziue, $3, . 
(Jolden Days. $3, 
CongreKatiiinalist, $3, . 
Christian Union, $3, . 
Zion's Herald. $-i. 50, . 
St. Nicholas. S:!. 

New York Semi Weekly Tribmie, 
New York Weekly Tribune, ^i. 
Art Interchange, %'i. 
Youth's Companion, Si -75, 
Scientific American. $3 '.if, . 
Phrenological Journal, $"J, 



Regu- 
l.ar 


By 

Single 


OurPiioe 


Kate. 


Coine.s 


the Two. 


$6.00 


$8.84 


$4.38 


8.00 


9.40 


5.98 


8.00 


0.40 


6.57 


8.00 


10.40 


5.98 


8.00 


10.40 


5.98 


8.00 


9.40 


5.97 


10.00 


;i.20 


8.69 


0.00 


1.20 


6.90 


S.OO 


10 40 


5.89 


7..00 


10.40 


5.55 


7 00 


10.40 


5.48 


7.00 


8.20 


6.21 


7.00 




5.19 




7. Oil 




5.27 




7.00 




4.99 




6..')0 





4.77 


7.00 


8.20 


5.27 


7 00 




5.00 
4.07 


0.00 




0.00 


7.70 


4.53 


t '-•- 




4.47 
5.47 


7. -JO 


10.40 


6.00 


8.20 


4.27 



A HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS 

Are expended every year by the American people for their periodical literature, with very little Idea of economy 
in the transaction, such as l)usiness wisdom dictates in the wholesale purchase of other connnodilics. The abovo 
offers give the individual purchaser the advantages of wholesale rates, with no agents or middlciuen of any kind 
—the subscriber getting the wliole advantage. The list given above is only an example of what we are prepared 
to oflter to all who include THE CONTINENT in their lists. If you are going to take any of the periodicals named, 
or any others, submit your list for oui- estimate. It will defy comi)etition. 

As to THE CONTIXENT itself, the Neui York Observer says: "It ranks in literary merit and arti.'.tic qualitj 
with the best and oldest-established magazines in the country;" and the poet AVhittier said, in renewing his 
subscription: "It has more than fulfilled its promises ; I cainiot do without it." THE CdXTI.VENT has been lavi.-^h 
of promis.'s, and has fulfilled every one. It will fulfill these. We are glad to answer inquiries. Let us know 
what you want. Specimen copy sent on application. 

Subscriptions to THE CONTiyENT and olhet- periodicals may bi'i/in with aim iiinnber nf rithcr. Be sure. 
and slate when yoa want each to begin. Remit by draft or money order. The XK<V I'OS'I AI- NOTES are Just oi 
and will l>e found veiy convenient in remitting odd sums of mone.y. The above figures are "odd" euougl ,• 
that is because they are tigui-ed down to the lowest cent for your advantage. 




AflDRESS: 

THE CONTINENT, 

23 Park Row, New York. 




The enormous palronage bestowed upon Mr. Duryea fully demon- 
strates the fact that first-class Photographs at low prices are thoroughly 
appreciated by the Brooklyn public. Also another fact is apparent, viz., 
that the people have become sufficiently educated in Photography to dis- 
criminate between the above class of work and " Cheap Pictures." 

Mr. Duryea's motto is small profits and large business, and we think 
it a sound one. His Studio is at 253 Fulton Street. 



WENDELL PHILLIPS. 

A commemorative Discourse delivered at Plymouth Church, Sunday, 
February loth, 1884, by 

HENRY WARD BEECHER. 

Ellinwood's full report. Issued as No. 20, current volume of Plymouth 
Pulpit. Brown paper covers; with Portrait of Mr. Phillips; Price, 
10 cents. Of Booksellers or Newsdealers, or mailed by 

FORDS, HOWARD, & HUIiBERT, 

27 Park Place, New^ York, 



•>KEEFER'S<- 

GRAND CENTRAL HOTEL, 

667 to 677 BROADW^AY, 

OPPOSITE BOND STREET. 

KEEFER («- CO., Proprietors. HSTE-^?^ "SrOR-IC. 

ANOTHER CUT IN PRICES, TO SUIT THE TIMES. 



This is the largest Hotel in the City, and is justlv recognized as the safest and 
Ixst Family Hotel in the City of New York. The location is central, and con- 
venient for persons who wish to combine business with pleasure. The Hotel is 
within one block of four lines of Street and Elevated Roads, and three lines 
of Stages pass the door, affording rapid communication with business centres, and 
places of amusements. 

We are now conducting this popular Hotel on both .\merican and European 
plans. 

On American plan Room and Board $2.50, $3.00 and $3.50 per day. 

On the European plan, our rooms at $1.00 per day are unsurjiassed, also su- 
perior rooms at $1.50 and $2.00 per day. There is a Restaurant and Cafe con- 
nected with the llotc-l, w lure everything the market affords is served at moderate prices. 

Five wide stairways from the top to the ground floor, and extensive outside 
fire escapes (which have recently been added) am! the fact that three night watch- 
men- — each with a watchman^ clock — patrol the building from 6 r. m. until b a. m., 
make it the safest Hotel in America. 

The Grand Central Hotel cm l)e reacned as follows : — from the I'eunsvlvania, 
N. I. Central, Erie, Delaware, Lackawanna, \ Western, and West Shore Railroads, 
take the Elevated Railway at Courtlandt Street, and gel off at lUeecker Street, which 
is within two blocks of the Hotel. lircm the N. V. Central, lioston and Albany, 
Hudson River, and Xew ^drk ;iik1 New Haven Railroads, take Third Avenue 
Elevated Road to Houston Street, or fourth .\veuue Street Cars to l!ond Street, 
one block from the Hotel; or .Madison .Vvenue line of Stages which run past the door. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 




014 495 885 8 



Circ Hit A ''' Continent, 



Henry Ward Beecher. 



Tliis address, (jriginaily delivered at Pl^'inouth v^hurch. 
l)r<>()klyn, dn Thanksgiving Day, was repeated on Thursday 
I-^vening, Jan. i6, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, for the 
benefit of the Home for Consumptives,— an aoi lirable 

charitv of that citv. 

It is now publisfied in the present form for the ' snefit 
of I he same Institution : and is for sale by Booksell*'rs and 
Newsdealers, or will be mailed, postpaid, (jn receipt o*' price 
(10 cents), by the Publishers, 

FORDS, HOWARD, & HULBERT, 

27 Park Place, New York. 



